(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 2)

[DracoOmega]

> Give the horse a neutral look back.

>You return the horse's look. It continues to return yours. This could turn into quite the staring contest.

>We don't have any warmer clothing or cloak, do we? Damnit.
>"Good morning."
>Hitch up and get ready to go. Time's a-wastin'.

>You didn't bring any extra clothing with you at all. You do have some warmer wear back home, for all the good it does you at the moment, although Ichirin would probably have something she'd be ok with you using. That being said, while it's not immensely pleasant out, you're not going to be miserable, either.
>You greet the horse. It nickers quietly by way of response.
>You untether the horse from the post and seat yourself in the cart. The seat is firm, utilitarian, and not hugely comfortable, although not as bad as some you've seen. You pick up the reins get ready to depart. Surely this can't be too tricky to drive, right?

[Oldmansour]

>Here's hoping....
>Snap the reins and head off towards the bridge. But slowly at first, if possible. 'till we see how she handles.

[DracoOmega]

>Here's hoping....
>Snap the reins and head off towards the bridge. But slowly at first, if possible. 'till we see how she handles.

>With a note of trepidation, you snap the reins and attempt to head off towards the bridge. It feels a little awkward at first, but the horse nonetheless responds to your efforts to direct it, and you move off down the main road through town. As you draw closer to the bulk of the village, you see signs of life emerge through the fog - a scattered person milling around the village center, and some farmers out attending to their fields. A couple you pass near wave at you, and you spare a moment's concentration from your task to wave back. Soon enough you're past the village entirely and on your way towards the bridge.
>It takes a little while to feel comfortable handling the cart, but the horse proves even-tempered, and in the end you don't have any major issues driving it. It's a pleasant change to be off your feet this time around, and the pace is faster. As the sun rises higher in the sky, the fog starts to thin, though traces of gray dampness linger. You think it's likely to remain a foggy day, at this rate.
>After an uneventful couple hours, you come into sight of the bridge again. It appears to be empty at the moment; no sign of either Cirno or the clawed youkai.

[Oldmansour]

>Okay, it was about here that Isato said he was attacked. Keep a sharp ear open for angry youkai, then start looking for any wagon tracks on the sides of the road.
>Slow the horses' pace, so we don't miss anything.

[DracoOmega]

>Okay, it was about here that Isato said he was attacked. Keep a sharp ear open for angry youkai, then start looking for any wagon tracks on the sides of the road.
>Slow the horses' pace, so we don't miss anything.

>You slow the horse's pace and being to search for wagon tracks leading off the side of the road, while keeping your ears peeled for any sign of an angry youkai. The fog makes it difficult to get a good look at anything which isn't close to you, but you do your best to survey carefully. However, after covering the area between here and the bridge and back, you find no sign of either - perhaps fortunate for the latter, but rather unfortunate for the former.

[Sect]

> Go ahead and bring the horse to a stop.
> Pull out the dowsing rods, and hop off the wagon. We could try finding the metal axles to the wagon...

[DracoOmega]

> Go ahead and bring the horse to a stop.
> Pull out the dowsing rods, and hop off the wagon. We could try finding the metal axles to the wagon...

>You stop the horse and step outside the cart, figuring it's time to put your graduation present to the first real test.
>You hold the rods out and get a read on your surroundings, taking a few moments to acclimatise yourself. Metal axles are relatively small for how far away from here they could be by now. Obligingly, the cart you rode on does not have metal axles nor is this end of the island particular metal-rich. It's a tall order, but not an impossible one. A first sweep fails to pick up anything which stands out, but you keep increasing the thoroughness of your search until you're tracing your dowsing rods across the horizon at little more than snail's pace and straining for even the smallest resonance that could signify what you're looking for. After a little while of this, you think you may be picking up something, some distance to the south.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does it look like we could take the cart and horse south safely?

[DracoOmega]

>Does it look like we could take the cart and horse south safely?

>The terrain in that general direction grows hilly as you get further south, but is fairly flat and open at this point - only a little less even than the road itself.

[Sect]

> Wheel the cart to the south, and ride carefully.

[DracoOmega]

> Wheel the cart to the south, and ride carefully.

>You get back into the cart and drive it carefully southward. The terrain doesn't prove a problem at least for the time-being. After a few minutes riding, you stop and check the reading again. You're increasingly convinced that whatever you were sensing earlier - if not the cart itself - is definitely in this direction. You continue onward, dowsing periodically to refine your orientation. The terrain begins to grow a ore difficult, and you start having to drive the cart around some hills that you don't feel comfortable trying to take it over.
>You're perhaps 20 minutes or so ride away from the road now. You have a much better read on the signal, now - it's coming from south-southeast of your current position. The terrain in that direction is growing very hilly indeed, and you don't know that it's practical to try driving the cart much further in that direction. The river continues southward, and you think the riverside would be navigable by cart for some further distance, although it's no longer in quite the right direction.
>Somewhat curiously, you're starting to think that the signal you're following is not a singular object, but multiple points of metal above surface level. It doesn't feel like a natural deposit, either.

[Hello Purvis]

I'm thinking the direct route is probably better.

>Look around for a good place to tie up the horse. Meanwhile, let's see if there's any signs of a clawful youkai around.

[DracoOmega]

>Look around for a good place to tie up the horse. Meanwhile, let's see if there's any signs of a clawful youkai around.

>There are several sturdy looking trees nearby which could serve as a suitable place to tether it.
>You see no obvious sign of a clawful youkai, nor any other for that matter. The land here seems fairly untraveled, with no visible indication of habitation by anything other than animals.

[Hello Purvis]

>Tether it up to a nice tree, and take another reading; then head in that direction.

[DracoOmega]

>Tether it up to a nice tree, and take another reading; then head in that direction.

>You select a suitable tree and tether the horse securely to it. Then you head off in the direction of the signal you've been following. The going is slow, and gets even slower as you proceed. At first, the hills are not terribly difficult to navigate on foot, but the terrain steadily grows more rugged and forested and the hills grow closer together. As the changes in altitude grow more sudden, you find yourself sometimes forced to actually climb using your hands as well as you feet.
>Another 15 minutes or so pass, although you feel you've only managed to cover a fraction of the distance that you did in the previous 15. You've seen nothing of note on your way - just more trees and grass and rock. You think that the average elevation of the terrain has been steadily rising as you proceed; you may be heading into the heart of the mountainous region along the south of the island. You also have very poor sight lines at the moment; you can see neither the river to your west nor anything more than hills and trees and steep rock faces ahead of you. You're definitely getting closer to the signal, even if you're not taking the clearest route to your destination. Certainly you think it would have been nearly impossible to take the cart you're searching for along this route.

[Kasu]

> Keep going.  Even if it's not the cart it might provide something we can work with.

[DracoOmega]

> Keep going.  Even if it's not the cart it might provide something we can work with.

>You continue moving forward, making your way slowly up and over the hills; you move around them when you can, but often no clear path to circumnavigate a rise is evident, and you have to scrabble up it directly.
>After a few more minutes progress, you come to a small rise that juts above the treeline of the surrounding area, affording you an actual view of the area. As expected, it's mostly nondescript trees and rugged wilderness. You can see a few hints of the river to the west, although most of it is obscured by trees, even at this height. Further to the south, you can see signs of the river widening into a lake. You can sort of guess at where you left the cart, but can't see it. Ahead of you, the land seems to descend a little, and then rise up into a cluster of hills, too solid to see past. As you scan for sign of anything out of place, you catch sight of what you think may be a fairy, flying between a small gap in the trees some distance ahead, before disappearing from sight again.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take another reading.
>Which way was that faerie going?

[DracoOmega]

>Take another reading.
>Which way was that faerie going?

>You take another reading. It's definitely coming from the same general direction that the fairy was. Multiple points of non-precious metal, most of them very small, but some a little larger - large enough to be a wagon axle at any rate.
>The fairy seemed to be moving from west to east, roughly. She was some distance to the south, past the higher ring of hills.

[Hello Purvis]

>Head toward that faerie, see if we can catch another glimpse of her.

[DracoOmega]

>Head toward that faerie, see if we can catch another glimpse of her.

>You continue towards the fairy, making your way carefully down the slope on the other side of the rise, and then up the next rise on the other side. You don't see the fairy again during your progress, although the angle of the hills would make it impossible to see her while you were in the valley, even if she were in the same location.
>After a few more minutes, you crest the second rise and get a view of the land beyond. The hills descend and flatten a short distance ahead, and the trees thin slightly, forming a sheltered valley ringed by more hills to the south and east. You can see the lakeshore curve strongly inward, forming the western edge of this space. You aren't certain if you can see the fairy from earlier, but you can certainly see several others, moving between the trees and the small houses nestled among them. You think you've discovered a wild fairy village.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does it look like we could approach safely? And does experience with faeries outside of Branston suggest this as well?

[DracoOmega]

>Does it look like we could approach safely? And does experience with faeries outside of Branston suggest this as well?

>You can certainly approach safely, in terms of terrain. Your descent would need to be slow, but the slope should present no real issue as long as you're not running down it. As for the fairies themselves... You haven't had as much interaction with wild fairies, although they sometimes tend to be less 'socialized' than those that live in cities. Some might be territorial, others friendly and harmless. They're not necessarily too different in kind, although they obviously have less experience with the social structures of other races. And there are clearly quite a few of them down there.
>Finding a fairy village at all is a fairly uncommon thing. Most are well-sheltered in the wilds, off the beaten path. The fairies themselves may venture onto the roads and towards habitation - certainly reports of fairies swiping things, or playing the occasional prank on travelers are not a rarity, but their homes are usually well-hidden.

[Hello Purvis]

>Oh well, approach!

[Oldmansour]

>This could be the village Cirno mentioned earlier. Keep an eye out for sword-wielding ice fairies along the way.

[DracoOmega]

>Oh well, approach!

>This could be the village Cirno mentioned earlier. Keep an eye out for sword-wielding ice fairies along the way.

>You decide to approach, and start making your way cautiously down the hill. Given what Cirno said earlier, you have a suspicion this may be her village; you're inclined to doubt there'd be a second village in such close proximity to the bridge. You keep an extra eye out for her as you proceed.
>You've made your way down most of the slope when you hear a sort of meek yelp ahead and overhead.

[Oldmansour]

>Look up!

[DracoOmega]

>Look up!

>You look up and see a small, green-haired fairy staring wide-eyed at you.
>"Ahh! Intruders!" she cries, then turns and flies towards the other houses.

[Kips McKipzerson]

>"Wait up there! I just kinda... Fell here."

[DracoOmega]

>"Wait up there! I just kinda... Fell here."

>You call out to the fairy, but she seems to take no notice of you, simply flying off while letting out a continuous low-volume yelp.